Okay. This was difficult. I wanted to give this book an honest read, without getting too emotionally invested. But I couldn't manage it. By the time I had read through the first five chapters, I was already seeing red.

Here's something about me to give you some background information: I'm bisexual, and have known this for sure since I was 20. If I had read this book when I was first working out my identity, when there's already a decent helping of shame and fear, this book would have added to that.

Pretty much throughout every chapter, there was just so much othering going on. I abhor the insistence that you should use SSA (same sex attraction) to explain your particular "addiction of choice," and attacking or "questioning" why someone would choose to call themselves gay (think David Bennett, who wrote A War of Loves, or Wesley Hill who wrote Washed and Waiting).

I definitely would not recommend this extremely academic and sterile book to someone who was struggling to define themselves, whether as celibate or otherwise. The hardest part of listening comes when we disagree with someone's decision and so we feel the need to speak. This is not an area where just anybody should be allowed to speak without first attempting to really understand why the label was chosen. Instead of reading this, go read A War of Loves and Washed and Waiting. ( )

A Review of “Love Into Light”
Authored by Peter Hubbard

Love Into Light, The Gospel, The Homosexual, and The Church is a refreshing look at a highly volatile subject, a subject long avoided address by the Church militant in its scope regarding sane-sex attraction (SSA), sexuality, and Gospel focus.
The author states his object plainly: Hubbard hopes to draw homosexuals and those who live with SSA out of the shadows of shame and alienation into the light of the community of Christ, the Church.
From the start we are challenged to fire our personal marketing departments and peel off our masks, getting to the husk of Christianity—that Jesus is the healer who opens the eyes of the blind. Our eyes must be opened, too.
Hubbard rightly contends that it is traumatic and unfair to tell homosexuals and SSA’s that their struggles are unlike any other sin(s). But, we must not allow ourselves to get caught up in arguments that do not actually lend themselves to reconciliation. While we recognize that there is a complexity regarding the relationship between our biology and responsibility, and although Hubbard admits that much of the “science” involved is uncertain, we may make progress only by moving the conversation away from uncertainty to the biblical categories that are certain.
Change is possible, not just for homosexuals and SSA’s, but for us all (Colossians 2:23).
For change to occur, we must give attention to who God says we are, by nature and by grace. Therefore, Hubbard strongly urges “we do not know our names—who we really are—until God tells us. (87)
As Christians who are also sinners, we can love all, but we cannot be “fine” with people who are “fine” with their sins, regardless of what those sins may be.
To build the community of the Church, we recognize that we share a common bond. By nature we are all fallen. By grace, we may be saved. We must all be willing to have the Gospel and the Word of God permeate every aspect of our lives.
Gospel advancement is not to be pursued through hurling insults or lobbing clichés.
We can accept people without approving lifestyles.
“Any Christian who can mock a homosexual or speak unkindly to a drag queen is suffering from amnesia.” (161)
Hubbard helps Christians remember who we were, what Christ did, and that we are here to help others. We can truly be salt and light if we are willing to love all—homosexuals and SSA’s—hear their story, speak the Gospel into their lives, and live for Christ in his kingdom.
This is one of hopefully many books to be written by this author. ( )